The present invention relates to the field of medical and veterinary science including the transportation and accommodation of patients, more specifically, a special provision for patients for transporting a patient in a wheelchair.
The requirement for mobility assistance for patients with ambulatory issues is a recurring problem within the medical community. The provisioning of this requirement can be complicated when a patient needs to be restrained for their own safety. An example for the need for restraint includes, but would not be limited to, a patient who: 1) presents a high probability for a fall risk; but, 2) does not recognize the severity of the risk. While effective restraint systems do exist to protect the patient, in many cases currently available circumstances when a caregiver is working alone and the patient is uncooperative.
A typical example of this shortcoming of current restraint systems occurs with a patient in: 1) a wheelchair; or, 2) another wheeled chair such as a stroller (hereinafter wheelchair). Typically, the wheelchair is staffed with a single care giver who is responsible both for the operation of the wheelchair and the safety of the patient in the wheelchair. Within this environment, to restrain a patient within the wheelchair the caregiver must: 1) maintain the position of the patient within the wheelchair; 2) place the patient within the restraint system associated with the wheelchair; 3) identify and match the male component with the female component for each buckle incorporated in the restraint system; and, 4) fasten the male component to the female component for each buckle incorporated in the restraint system. When a common buckle is used for the each buckle incorporated in the restraint system, the identification and fastening of the male component and female component of any specific buckle can be a time consuming and frustrating process—especially when care must be provided for a dynamic patient.
Clearly a method that visually and clearly identifies and incorporated in a restraint system would be of benefit to a caregiver.